This disclosure relates generally to online advertising, and more specifically to estimating a number of users an online advertisement may reach.
Advertisers may have certain goals when planning a new advertising campaign (“advertising campaign”). For instance, an advertiser may have a goal for the number of times an advertisement is presented to users of an online system (i.e., the number of “impressions” of the advertisement), the number of different online system users presented with an advertisement (i.e., the “reach” of the advertisement), and/or a duration during which the advertisement is presented. Conventionally, an advertiser specifies certain attributes of an advertising campaign or advertisements in an advertising campaign when specifying the advertising campaign. For example, an advertiser identifies targeting criteria associated with one or more advertisements in an advertising campaign.
However, advertisers may lack information to accurately identify how to achieve one or more goals of an advertising campaign. For instance, an advertiser may have a desired reach for an advertisement campaign, but lack information for determining a geographic area in which the advertisement is presented that would achieve the desired reach. Alternatively, an advertiser may specify a geographic area in which an advertisement is presented, but lack information for determining a reach of the advertisement within the specified geographic area.